Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Audio Content Fund 2021.

The Audio Content Fund pilot, which operated between April 2019 and April 2022, supported independent audio producers to provide high quality public service content for commercial and community radio stations across the UK. In 2020/21, its core funding was supplemented by two additional rounds to help fund further content to support the public during the coronavirus pandemic.

The department sets objectives for grant funding when designing the grant scheme and allocates funding in accordance with those objectives.

A full independent evaluation of the impacts of the Audio Content Fund, including these additional rounds, was published in February 2023.